Flashback Series Part 3: Too Late to Say 'Oops'
by jackandjill2
Summary: Skipper's made the biggest mistake of his life - and he doesn't even know it until a certain female penguin gets temporarily transferred to the zoo, along with... you'll find out if you just click on the blue letters above...
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This is the third and regrettably final part of my Flashback series. It's kind of funny, because the other two stories got eleven reviews before it sort of teetered out... can this one get more? That's my challenge! Huzzah!

* * *

Looking back, Skipper knew that things might have turned out at least a BIT differently if he and the rest of the team hadn't been so impatient that day. After a particularly hard workout before breakfast one hot, August day, and he'd decided it would be in the team's best interest to hijack the truck that the fish usually came in from.

Skipper and Kowalski saw a large crate in the back end as Rico knocked out the driver and made for the penguin habitat.

Kowalski studied the crate. "Uh, Skipper, we may have a problem."

"What's up?" Skipper said. "No fish?"

"Well, it isn't fish, but it is something… vital to the success… of our…um… exhibit." Kowalski wasn't sure how Skipper would take this, so he danced around the answer.

"And what would that be?" Skipper asked.

"Well… penguins. Two, I'd wager." Kowalski answered finally.

Skipper raised an eyebrow and turned around. He tapped on the glass and shouted to Rico, who was now driving, "Rico! Get us back, double-time!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Rico answered back, and made a wide turn.

Once the team was back at the HQ, Kowalski, Skipper, and Rico carefully carried the crate onto the floe of cement. Private had been keeping an eye out for Alice. Rico was about to rip open the crate, when Skipper took the crowbar from him and told the team to step back.

"We have no idea who - or what - is in there!" he admonished. Skipper slowly tore open the crate himself and stepped back quickly.

Two penguins cautiously walked out. The first looked… exhausted. Like she (yes, she, for both looked female) hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for several nights due to worry. She stood in front of the second one like a protective shield. The other girl looked much younger, perhaps a few years younger than Private, and she would have been quite a looker if it weren't for the strange dark-grey cast to her normally white feathers. Actually, she looked remarkably like Skipper - flat head, cynical expression, cautious movements - and she carried a bag containing a notebook of some sort and about two dozen pencils. The older female's and Skipper's eyes met. Their mouths dropped open.

"_Skipper?_" she gasped, shocked.

"FALL BACK, MEN!" Skipper shouted. He, Kowalski, Rico, and Private ran out of the habitat, jumping the fence and moat in one bound and taking refuge in a hot-dog cart.

"Who are they?" Kowalski asked with some amazement. Who in the world could be so bad that Skipper was afraid? "Are they in league with Blowhole?"

"No, worse, much worse!" Skipper said, still shaken.

"Kaboom?" Rico guessed.

Skipper regained his composure enough to roll his eyes. "Rico, if they were _suicide bombers_, we still would be running.""Who are they, then?" Private cried out.

"I have no clue about the younger one, but the woman in front, she's… she's…"

"An old enemy?" Kowalski guessed, trying to help out his leader.

Skipper snorted. "You could say that, I suppose… she's…my _ex-wife."_ he finally said

Rico and Kowalski exchanged a worried look.

"Uh… Skippah," Private said, using his therapist-voice, "Isn't your ex-wife a blonde bobblehead doll named Lola?"

"Well, yeah, but this girl, her name's Vanessa," Skipper explained, "she came way before I met any of you. In fact, she was before I joined the army!"

"And she's dangerous… how?" Kowalski said, desperate for answers by now.

"I was supposed to be gone a year and a half, but I loved being in the army and just kept re-enlisting, and then I met you and Rico, and the General made us an official team and I _couldn't _leave then… I haven't seen or heard from her in almost eighteen years, except some of the new recruits years back told me she'd filed for divorce and had been captured by the humans and sent to a zoo… so, now, if I knew Vanessa at all, I know she's still furious with me!"

"Well, maybe if you just went and talked to her, she'd understand!" Private reasoned cheerfully.

"Besides… we still haven't had breakfast yet, and Alice will be waiting with fish for us soon." Kowalski added. Rico's stomach growled as if in agreement.

Skipper sighed. "All right, we'll go back… but stay on your toes!"

There was a BANG of someone's head hitting the metal roof of the hot-dog cart and a groan of aching pain.

"Not _literally, _Rico." Skipper said exasperatedly. This was going to be a long day.

…

It took all of Skipper's manly willpower - and the growl of his own stomach - to jump back into their own habitat. Alice had already come by - the crate was gone, and the new penguins were starting in on their breakfast. The older one - Vanessa - looked up.

"So, it really is you, Skipper?" she said passively.

Skipper nodded stiffly.

Vanessa motioned for the younger girl to stay. She rolled her eyes and swallowed another fish.

Vanessa strode up to Skipper, cool as a cucumber, saying, "You know, it's actually really nice to see you again."

"Yes, it is." Skipper agreed. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.

"Know why?" she asked while her accommodating smile quickly faded away.

Or maybe it was so bad after all. "Why?"

Kowalski and Rico grimaced as Vanessa punched Skipper in the face.

"That was for saying you loved me!"

***Punch / Grimace***

"That was for leaving me to chase your stupid army fantasy!"

Skipper, rubbing his soon-to-be blackened eye, said affronted, "I didn't chase any fantasies, I was drafted! You know that!"

"Then why didn't you come back?" she demanded. "A year and a half! That's how long you were supposed to be gone! And when the rest of your fleet came home, I thought you were _dead._ I _mourned_ for your sorry tail feathers, only to find out you were alive and well, happy without me. And _I needed you back_, Skipper!"

"You didn't need me, you were fine on your own." Skipper snapped.

"No, I needed you! I had an egg on the way, and there were literally no males left in the rookery that weren't already mated or still losing down feathers!"

"Wait, wait, back up - an _egg?"_ Skipper cried.

Vanessa nodded tersely and gestured back to where the younger girl was sitting and talking with Private. Neither the girl nor Private had heard a word of the argument.

* * *

Yikes! Skipper's a daddy!

Wait... what's Private doing with that girl? Ooh la la!


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! Like I said before, this is actually a combination of Parts 3 and 4, so here's a chapter mainly with Private. Let's see what he was doing with that girl... ;)

* * *

While Vanessa and Skipper were battling it out, Private had a chance to get a good look at the other girl. Wow... she was pretty, he couldn't help noticing. She'd taken out a notebook and the pencils... colored pencils, almost two dozen and all different colors. Private had never known there were so many shades of red.

Seeing that Skipper was otherwise occupied, Private quietly walked towards the girl.

"Hello." he said shyly.

"Hey." she replied curtly, not looking up from her notebook.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Private continued. "Uh... my name's Private."

"Sarah." She still wouldn't look up as she put down her dull pencil and picked up a sharper one.

"That's a nice name!" Private complimented.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I _know _you're just trying to hit on me, so stop trying to act all cute-sy and go away. You're in my light."

Private blinked in embarrassment and shuffled a little to the right, casting his shadow elsewhere.

"I'm just trying to be polite." he said sincerely.

"Yeah, well -" she finally looked up.

As if it wasn't already obvious, Sarah was an artist. She noticed certain things others didn't. With just one look at Private, she could tell he wasn't lying, unlike most guys she'd met before. Sarah was also a teenage female, and she could also tell that Private was... well, quite... handsome.

Private sat down. "What're you writing?" he asked.

She snapped the notebook closed, but not before Private had caught a glimpse of the odd shapes that adorned the page. She obviously drew in abstract.

"Drawing, actually, and... it's nothing anyone needs to see. My sketchbook is kind of like a diary to me."

Private nodded. He understood - it was kind of like how Skipper didn't like anyone listening to his log.

He cleared his throat. "Erm, if I may ask... why are your feathers like that?"

Sarah looked down at her grey front. "Yeah, I get that a lot. It's a physical reminder of the unbending darkness that resides in every soul, including yours and mine." She said this as if explaining to a chick that two and two made four.

Private blinked again and said uneasily, "Oh... right."

She let out a small smile. She got that a lot, too.

"Since we're asking each other questions of increasing impudence... what's with the cool British accent?"

Private didn't know what 'impudence' meant and made a mental note to ask Kowalski later. "I was born in Liverpool, England, at the Chester Zoo. It's an outdoor zoo, and the accent just... kinda stuck, I s'pose."

They continued to chat for quite a while.

Meanwhile...

"Wait, wait, back up - an _egg?"_ Skipper cried.

"Yep." Vanessa said, and gestured back to where Sarah and Private were sitting and talking. Vanessa began to call for her daughter to come, but stopped.

"Private!" Skipper said.

"NO! Leave them!" Vanessa said, turning Skipper away from the new acquaintances.

"Excuse me," Skipper indignantly, "I just found out I'm a _father _and maybe I want to meet my kid!"

"Seriously, leave her be... oh my God, she actually put away put her sketchbook away and is TALKING to someone!" Vanessa exclaimed joyously.

Skipper raised an eyebrow and chanced a look at Kowalski and Rico. They seemed to have turned into shocked statues upon hearing this new information.

"Uh... maybe it's time for the rest of us to go inside." he said.

They nodded, still quite dazed, and the four older penguins quietly slipped inside the HQ, leaving Private and Sarah alone outside.

"Now then," Skipper said once they all were inside. "What's all this about 'actually talking to someone'?"

Vanessa sighed and sat down exhaustedly. "Sarah... she's - I don't know - different. She loves all the dark kind of stuff - black and red, vampires, anything to do with the bleary and dreary - and she's very anti-social. She'll just sit in a corner for hours, drawing in that sketchbook and sometimes goes for _days_ without speaking to anyone! I always thought she would just grow out of it, but it's been years... I'm getting really worried."

Skipper didn't know what to say. He had a thought: Was this his fault, perhaps? It kind of sounded like Sarah hadn't really had a father figure... he suddenly felt a surge of guilt as his stomach seemed to plummet to the ground.

"By the way," Vanessa continued, "should I be worried now?"

Skipper made no reply, so Kowalski stepped in. "About what?" he asked.

"Well, Sarah's up there all alone with a _guy_... I haven't had much luck with 'army guys', if you know what I mean." she said, somewhat cynically.

Skipper unexpectedly broke into a booming laugh, as did Kowalski and Rico.

Kowalski, through the giggles, said, "Worried? Of course not! Private's one of the sweetest, most innocent guys - nay, _boys_ - you'll ever meet!"

"What's he gonna do - make a move on her?" Skipper laughed out.

…

"Would you like a tour of the zoo?" Private said brightly. He and Sarah hadn't even noticed the others leave. "I'd be honored to show you around!"

"Well..." Sarah said, a little unsure. She hadn't actually spoken to someone (besides her mother, she figured) for this long in quite a while. But she liked Private - he seemed different from other guys she'd known.

"Okay." she said. She chanced a small smile in return for Private's stunning grin. He helped her up, and together they left the habitat, almost unaware they were still holding flippers.

…

Still laughing, Skipper said, "If it helps, I'll check on them now."

"Thanks." Vanessa said dryly. She didn't exactly appreciate Skipper laughing at the fact his own daughter might possibly have been in danger.

Skipper turned and looked through the periscope, pointing it towards where Sarah and Private had been sitting.

They weren't there.

Skipper lost his smile. He turned the 'scope around frantically, trying to see them.

"Skipper?" Kowalski said questioningly. The laughter had died out by now.

"They're gone!" he said, shocked.

Vanessa stood still for a few seconds then (for the fourth time that day) slapped Skipper across the face. She also added an extra 'zing!' by calling Skipper a name that should not be repeated on Fanfiction . Net. She turned and quickly climbed up the ladder.

Skipper rubbed the spot where Vanessa had yet again slapped him, a little embarrassed at the language his ex-wife had picked up.

"You were right to fear her!" Kowalski couldn't help commenting.

* * *

Go motherly affection! Woohoo!

By the way: If Sarah seeming to sound like a stereotypical goth girl, I'll explain now to quench the 'flames'. She's not really into all the goth stuff as much as she says she is - she just wants to be completely different from everyone else. Unfortunately, she goes to the extreme and has begun to lose herself a little in the process.

Hopefully, Private's friendship (ahem) will help her out with that...

Review and I'll give you some sprinkles to put on your ice cream - choose your shape: dinosaur, fish, dolphin, or star-and-moon? I actually bought these - shows you how cool I am ;)


	3. Chapter 3

"So… where were you transferred from?" Private asked. He and Sarah were currently sitting under a bench, enjoying some stolen popcorn. He'd already shown her around as much as possible, considering there were still people milling around the zoo. She'd gradually become more comfortable with him as time wore on.

"Actually," Sarah replied, "Mom and I weren't transferred. Our habitat in Boston is being remodeled. We'll have to go back in about three months, unfortunately."

"Oh." Private said quietly, disappointed that she wasn't staying after all. Then, her last word suddenly registered. "_Unfortunately_… don't you like your home?"

Sarah shook her head bitterly. "No, I hate it." She sighed, then continued.

"My mom worries about how I don't talk to anyone back in Boston. The truth is, it's much better this way - for me, at least. The other penguins, mainly the older ones that we call the 'elders', are all a bunch of hypocrites with no sense of originality or uniqueness. I've never really fit in since I don't have a father, but what really started it all was about three years ago, when some zoo-goer had left behind a pencil and notebook. I found it, and discovered I had talent at drawing. The others elders didn't approve somehow, and told me as such. I got angry and didn't listen to them, preferring to practice my new passion that continue to hold myself up to their double-standards. About last year, I finally got tired of the glares that the elders kept giving me, so I 'borrowed' a Sharpie marker from the zoo's main office, broke it apart, mixed the juice with a small tub of water, and dyed my feathers grey to show my newfound - if somewhat cynical - beliefs. My mom nearly had a capillary, but otherwise the act had the effect I desired - instead of wordless glares of disapproval, I got nothing, which is much better in my opinion."

"That's terrible!" Private exclaimed. "Don't - don't you get lonely, sometimes?"

"Not really." she said, shrugging. "I try to talk to my mom sometimes, but then she just tries to play psychiatrist and talks to me like I'm a nut or something."

"Do I really?" said a voice from behind Sarah and Private.

They both jumped - Private nearly poked Sarah in the eye after landing in a combat position, as per Skipper's training.

"Mom!" Sarah said exasperatedly. She saw Private and cracked a smile. "What are you doing?" she said to him.

"Uh, nothing, erm… army thing I had to learn." he said, a little embarrassed.

"Army - oh, that's why they call you Private?" Sarah said.

"Yes."

"I really am sorry to interrupt, sweetheart," Vanessa said contritely, "but both of you need to come back to the habitat. There's someone you should meet, Sarah."

…

Private seemed to be more surprised (even shocked) when Vanessa properly introduced Sarah and Skipper.

"_You're _my father?" Sarah said, almost amused.

"Apparently." Skipper replied stoically.

"Funny. _I_ don't think you're a bigheaded, cold-hearted bast-"

"That's enough!" Vanessa said sharply.

Skipper raised an eyebrow at his ex-wife and shook his head. "Thanks a lot." he said sarcastically. Vanessa smiled slyly and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, "Oh well, you know it's true."

"So… Sarah's… your… daughter?" Private said nervously.

"Yeah…" Skipper replied, already suspicious.

Private looked back for a second, then leaned over to Skipper and whispered innocently, "So… she's off-limits?"

Skipper's eyebrows shot up. "What - _Private!"_

Skipper grabbed Private's flipper and quickly led him outside to talk more freely.

"What are you talking about?" he said, a bit angry.

"I like her, okay?" Private admitted. "She's clever, and unique, and honest and… pretty, very pretty…"

Skipper slapped a flipper to his forehead. "Pretty - you _do _realize she looks exactly like _me?"_

"Skippah, I'm being quite serious!" Private said indignantly. "She's really special, and I think she could like me too!"

Skipper massaged his temple, trying to chase away the migraine. Too much was happening too fast. "That's just the problem! _You know my daughter better than I do!"_ he nearly shouted.

"Oh. Right." Private said softly. "Sorry, Skippah. I understand." Private turned back to the fishbowl, clearly disappointed but trying to hide it.

"Oh… _sweet mother of scallops!"_ Skipper muttered. "Private!"

"Hm?"'

"Look… it's definitely not that I don't trust you or anything, it's just… I haven't spoken more than two words to Sarah yet. I'd like to get to know her first, you know? Plus, I'm sure she and Vanessa want to get settled in first, you know, find a couple more beds, show them were the booby traps are, warn them about the lemurs…"

"I suppose."

"But, believe me," Skipper said encouragingly, "If there was any penguin I'd trust with my own daughter, it'd be you."

Private smiled. "Thanks, Skippah."

…

Meanwhile, after being introduced to Rico and Kowalski… sort of ("I already know you. Kowalski's the smart, tall one - Rico's the crazy one with the mohawk" *stares* "Private told me"), she figured she'd done more than enough socializing for the day and was beginning to feel more than a little uncomfortable. She retreated to a cool spot beside the TV set with her notebook and pencils, and within five minutes she was in the _zone._ She'd began a new drawing on the way from Boston and the initial plans were finished… or were they?

Sarah took a second look at her 'final' draft. It was going to be her usual gray, burgundy, and navy blue color schemes with abstract shapes - she was going to have the drawing represent the feeling that you could look as hard as you wanted, but what you were looking at wasn't meant to be anything. But now that she tried to not look as closely as before, she did see something - a pair of eyes. New to her, but still somehow familiar… eyes that she had an odd feeling would someday become very dear to her…

Sarah smiled to herself and began to emphasize Private's eyes, bringing meaning to her drawing at last.

* * *

By the way, I've got some stuff to hand out...

Dinosaur sprinkles AND the best review award (ice cream to go with) go to PurplePugQueen! *gives ice cream and sprinkles*

Star and moon sprinkles go to OrangeSugar and InternetGirl123! *gives sprinkles*

Dr. Blow - I mean DOLPHIN sprinkles go to CayennePeppr!

And, since nobody wanted them, the fish-shaped sprinkles go to the penguins I'm twisting the lives of in my awkward stories - Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, Private, Sarah, Vanessa, Katrina, and Chico (:P). Actually, Chico gets no sprinkles. He's evil. And dead.

Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Hi everybody! I know I usually update on Wednesdays, but I was just in the mood to update a day early. Hooray! I figured I wouldn't have much time in the next couple of days, I'm on a lunch break from marching band camp right now. (I play the trombone, and our show this year is "Music from Avatar". It's going to be pretty epic!)

Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning, as usual, Skipper was the first to wake up._ That was the strangest dream… _he thought groggily. He turned onto his side and looked across the room, and saw the bunks where Vanessa and Sarah were sleeping soundly.

_Dammit._

He started to get out of bed to wake up the boys, when he began to feel the aftereffects of yesterday's migraine.

"Uh…" he groaned. Well… it _had _been a long day yesterday. And he didn't think the girls would appreciate being woke up at 5 A.M., since he'd forgotten to tell them about the team's early-morning exercises… and he'd have to show them around today, it was Sunday… _Sunday…_

"Maybe we should… take the… day off…" Skipper sighed as he fell back asleep.

…

"5 A.M.? No way!" Vanessa said, not shouting anymore, when Skipper informed her of his team's normal waking hours. "There is no way Sarah and I will wake up every day at 5 A.M."

"Okay, okay!" Skipper said. Thank God the migraine was gone, thanks to his morning cup of joe. "We'll figure something else out."

"Thanks. Now, what's on the agenda for today?" Vanessa asked.

Ever-ready Kowalski whipped out his favorite clipboard and read off today's schedule. "Seven hundred hours: Breakfast. Half after seven: begin tour of zoo. Noon: lunch. Half after noon: entertain small crowd. Seventeen hundred hours - or five o'clock - Dinner. Rest of the evening is free for enjoyment while Skipper procures better sleeping units for new residents."

"Hmm. Complete schedule." Vanessa said with a small smirk. "Impressive."

"That's standard procedure around here." Kowalski said matter-of-factly. He looked through some more notes and continued, "I also have the tour mapped out, diagrams of all our entertainment routines, and a copy of Alice's menus for the rest of the week. Today is salmon day, by the way."

Vanessa nodded. Skipper looked at the clock - it read seven-oh-five.

"Alright, men, ladies. Soup's on in three… two… one…"

There was a shower of little thunks as the Alice threw in the fish.

"Penguins!" her muffled voice called out. "Come out from wherever-the-heck-you-are and get some chow!"

All six penguins climbed the ladder and commenced to breakfast. Vanessa noticed that it was indeed salmon.

…

Even Sarah was impressed with most of the animals in the zoo. She only had two people question her about her front feathers out of everyone she met, including those she'd been introduced to yesterday by Private. She'd gotten a question from a chameleon (Kowalski had learned to communicate with them from Maurice), which made sense since they changed color themselves, they would notice something like her dark feathers. I'll give you one guess as to who the other 'questioner' was.

"Uh… why are her fronty feathers all gray and freakish?"

Yep. Julien, of course.

Just as Vanessa opened her mouth to say something, Skipper cut in and said, "Don't call my _daughter _a freak, ringtail!"

"It's okay, _Dad,_" Sarah said - her first words of the day. "I'm different, it's true. And I'm sure _his highness_ would know a freak when he saw one, considering the way he's speaking."

Private snorted, trying to hide a laugh. He'd secretly thought that as long as he'd known Julien, but had never said anything since he had an accent as well.

So, Julien didn't take to Sarah or Vanessa very well. Maurice was polite enough, and apologized to Skipper when they were out of Julien's earshot. However, Julien did notice how Private kept looking at Sarah with a funny little smile and, sensitive soul he was (ha!), decided to offer his love-life saving advice.

"You! Tiny penguin!" Julien called out from his leafy throne right before Private jumped out of the lemurs' habitat.

"I'll be right back, Skippah." Private said, then slowly went back to where Julien was. "Do you need something?" he asked.

"Oh, silly birdy, it's not what I need, but what YOU need."

"What?"

"You _like _the grayish-girly penguin, no?" Julien said, waving his eyebrows suggestively.

"Well, yes. I do." Private said. He frowned - was it really that obvious, that even _Julien _noticed?

"Well, crazy little lover-boy, let King Julien be enlightening you with my wise advice-"

"Erm, no thanks." Private said, remembering all too clearly the last time 'ringtail' had offered love advice to the team - Rico ended up as a hippie, temporarily, and he'd nearly left the team! "I usually go to Skippah for advice."

"Actually, sounds to me like he's not too 'smart on the heart'." Maurice added in. "Didn't he leave his wife so he could join the army?"

"Well… I guess so." Private said sadly. He hadn't thought of it that way.

"_Hurry up, Private!"_ Skipper's voice rang out.

"I'd better go. Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be fine." Private said hurriedly, eager to get away from the lemurs.

After he left, Julien chuckled and said to his aye-aye, "He'll be back. They always come back. And when I say 'they', I mean 'he'. I mean… Maurice! Stop confusing me!"

Maurice rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. _Find a happy place, find a happy place…_

…

The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful. Vanessa and Marlene got on unsurprisingly well, and the few children that visited the penguin exhibit spent most of their time pointing at Sarah and asking Alice if there was something wrong with her, to which Alice would say in a bored voice that she didn't know, the penguin just arrived that way.

The most surprising event happened shortly after dinner, as Skipper prepared to leave.

"I'm going to go get the good bunks out of storage. I'll be back in a while -"

Vanessa stood up. "I'll go with you."

Skipper did a double take. "What?"

"No matter how much you may act like 'muscle-man'," Vanessa said, following him. "you can't carry two beds by yourself. I'll help."

"Oh…" Skipper said. "well… thanks. Um… ladies first." He gestured to the ladder right behind him. After Vanessa ascended the ladder, Skipper looked back worriedly to the boys (Sarah was in her corner again) and somewhat blasphemously crossed himself across the chest.

Once they were out of the habitat, they walked together in an awkward silence for a while. Vanessa finally cleared her throat and said a little stiffly, "You've really got a great team, Skipper. They're… good men."

"Yeah, they are. Thanks." Skipper replied, surprised and even flattered a bit.

Vanessa continued. "But… what's-his-name - oh yeah, _Rico_ seems a little… what's the word… odd."

Skipper chuckled. She hadn't even seen him throw up anything yet. "He definitely is that and more. But he's got a good heart… most of the time." He paused for a minute or so. "I think you did a good job with raising Sarah, too, considering -"

"Obviously, no, I didn't." Vanessa said darkly.

Skipper looked over at his ex-wife. A tear glistened in her eye, and she quickly shoved it away. Anyone could see that she blamed herself for her daughter's strangeness - but Skipper knew that wasn't it at all. He sighed, and stepped in front of Vanessa, cutting her off.

"Vanessa?" It came out as a question. He cleared his throat and started again. "Vanessa… if I ever knew you, you probably didn't do anything wrong in raising her. As a matter of fact, it's probably my fault she's not more… outgoing. I wasn't there for her… or you. And…"

"_I'm sorry."_

Vanessa looked up from the ground. _That _had certainly caught her attention. She had an odd feeling in her heart - almost as if she'd been waiting to hear Skipper say those words for the last eighteen years. _God, how Sarah looks like him…_

Memories flooded her mind: trying to keep her baby girl warm in the Antarctic wind while she was freezing herself; seeing Skipper's fleet return without him, and fearing the worst, then finding out he didn't want her anymore; after sighting a group of humans, practically running to them in hopes they might help her and her freezing Sarah; arriving at the new zoo, with high hopes; those hopes crushed when the elders discovered Vanessa's mate had left her, and labeled her as 'unwanted' and her daughter as excess; never telling her daughter the real reason no one liked her; at Sarah's begging, the first description of Skipper, bitterness tainting her memory; seeing how adept Sarah was at art, just like Vanessa's mother; Sarah's rebellion and Vanessa first seeing the newly-darkened feathers; and lastly, the elation she felt when Sarah would decide to speak every few days or so…

It was too much. Vanessa was _tired _of being the strong one… but maybe, for a couple of months at least, she didn't have to be…

Vanessa's lower jaw quivered, her eyes teared up again, and with a broken sob she all but collapsed, holding onto Skipper for support. Skipper flinched from the sudden contact, but soon gave her a rare, encouraging smile and embraced her, gently bringing her back on her feet.

"Feel better?" he said softly.

Vanessa smiled, watery-eyed and nodded.

They remained like that for a minute or two, actually enjoying each other's company. Vanessa finally pulled away, wiping her eyes, and said in a thick voice, "We'd better get going - the others will wonder-"

"Yeah." Skipper quickly agreed. Vanessa dropped her flippers and began to walk away. She paused and looked behind her. "Skipper?"

"Yes?" he said, still and little dazed from the whole thing.

"Thanks." She said, smiling gratefully. She turned and walked away. Skipper opened his beak to say something back, then closed it again. Maybe he'd let her have the last word this time…

"You're welcome."

Or not.

* * *

Oh my gosh, I had so much fun writing this chapter. Especially the last scene with Skipper and Vanessa - they're great characters to put together, almost as fun as Private and Sarah - hint for next chapter!

One last thing - to the newer writers/readers of POM fanfics: You may have noticed lately that someone named "littlebirdy05" has been seen a lot on our page. READ HER STORIES, THEY'RE AMAZING. I consider her to be one of the greatest writers on this site, one of the 'founders' so to speak.

So yeah... I'm such a hypocrite, I always say I hate it when people name-drop, and now look at me. How disgusting...

Review anyway, please!


	5. Chapter 5

I hope you enjoy this new chapter! I haven't written a humor scene for a while, so I added in... what-you-will-see-later to lighten the mood a bit.

* * *

About a week and a half later...

Sarah wanted to think that she and Private were friends. And they were - but that really wasn't all anymore. Sarah felt something more that friendship between them, and it seemed to grow a little every time he spoke to her. This _thing - _it made her heart flutter, her stomach flip, even her tongue stutter sometimes...

She didn't like it.

She'd had a crush, similar to was she was now feeling, once before. He had been the 'new guy' in the zoo, and an unusually good-looking one at that. He'd known nothing about her or anyone else. But that had been she had the courage to dye her feathers or anything like that, and she was afraid. So she waited. And waited. By the time she'd worked up the nerve to say hello, the others had already told him that she was 'different'. A rebel, they called her. She'd never tell Private, but that was one of the main reasons she'd started being the way she was now - _if they wanted a rebel, they'd get one_, she'd reasoned with herself.

Anyway, he'd rejected her before she could even say more than 'hello'. That was her first taste of a broken heart, and judging from her mother's stories, it only got worse as you get deeper and deeper into that messy disaster called love.

One day, as she and Private were talking, she'd unconsciously shifted her sitting position on the couch and their flippers touched for the first time in quite a while. She'd felt it immediately - if felt like sparks were going up her flipper and into her very heart. She'd pulled away as fast as she could.

It scared her, how fast she was falling for him. And even though it seemed Private cared for her too, she couldn't forget that sinking feeling of rejection. So, Sarah did was Sarah did best - she hid away.

…

Private, however, was very confused, to say the least. One minute, things were perfectly fine - he was telling Sarah a funny story about when Kowalski tried to make a special mulch for Marlene's flowers (they'd ended up with giant, carnivorous Venus flytraps - Kowalski still wasn't sure how the daisies had made the species-switch), and then, their flippers had touched. Sarah had given him a funny look, almost as if she were frightened of something, then calmly walked away, grabbing her notepad and pencils, and sitting in a dark corner, away from him.

Maybe this was what Vanessa had been telling him and the rest of the boys about. Sarah was indeed a sensitive girl - had he done something wrong?

He replayed the moment when they had touched. He'd never had a feeling like that before - it had been like his arm had turned into a string of Rico's favorite firecrackers. It really was a great feeling - hadn't she felt the same?

UGH! It was baffling! While it was true that Private was the most sensitive of the team and even an amateur therapist, he'd never had to do something this complicated before. His 'patients' always told him every detail of their problems, not left them for Private to figure out, like Sarah was.

He needed advice. He needed suggestions on what to do…

"_Let King Juuuulieeeen be enliiiiightennning yooooou…" _a frighteningly familiar voice said in Private's head. _Wait…_ he thought. He climbed the ladder and opened the hatch about an inch. Julien was waiting topside, with a bullhorn doing his creepy-flashback voice. Private huffed and closed the hatch shut. No way was he going to Julien for love advice, he'd already learned that from Rico.

No, he needed a more gentle mind. One that was somewhat like his own - sweet and optimistic - but perhaps one without the XY chromosome, as Kowalski might put it...

He needed...

…

"Marlene? Are you home?" Private called out, actually using front door and knocking for once.

Marlene, thoroughly surprised at his sudden courtesy, let him in and was more than happy to help with his problem. She listened closely as he told her exactly what had happened the last week and a half. She had to smile when Private blushed as he told her how it felt when his and Sarah's flippers touched.

"Well... it sounds to me as if she's unsure of whether you like her or not, which obviously, you do. I'd suggest you show her with something really romantic."

"That sounds perfect!" Private said enthusiastically. He frowned. "But I'm not really that good at coming up with things like that... do you have any suggestions, Marlene?"

_You have no idea. _"I sure do!" she said helpfully, hiding her sarcastic thought. "Do you speak Spanish?"

"Um..." Private thought aloud. "I took a semester in military school, but I only remember the basics."

"That's alright - anything sung in Spanish sounds romantic, just how if you say anything angrily, it sounds like an insult. (1) Now, let's get started!"

…

"I don't know if I can do this, Marlene."

"Private, we did _not_ practice for a week for you to chicken out now. Plus, just imagine what Sarah will think!"

"She'll think I look ridiculous - which I do."

"Nonsense, she'll love it!"

Private was now ready to give Sarah the wooing of her life - or so he'd thought. He'd written the song with minimal help from Marlene, and she'd taught him to play Spanish guitar - at least, enough for the song - but when she'd brought him the _full matador costume _(a sparkly black and gold jacket, a matching sombrero with red balls hanging from the edges, a huge red cape that swished with even the slightest movement, and to top it all off, a pointy moustache - never mind the fact that penguins don't grow hair, much less facial hair) he began to feel immense anxiety, lest he'd make himself look like a fool. But, just to humor Marlene, he'd tried it on and she'd talked him into wearing it now.

"I'll go introduce you, get ready to win her heart!" Marlene said excitedly.

Private nodded. Marlene opened the fishbowl entrance and jumped in. He heard her announce proudly:

"Ladies, gentlemen… and Sarah (Private could practically hear her wink) - may I proudly present - Señor Soldado! (2)"

Private gulped away his fear, thinking of Sarah and how badly he wanted to impress her. He jumped through the hatch wearing a Skipper-worthy smirk.

Upon seeing Private this way, each penguin in the HQ had a different reaction. Rico burst out in laughter, rolling on the floor; Kowalski did a spit take in Skipper's shocked face; Vanessa snorted back a laugh; Sarah - actually, Sarah looked a little scared.

Private did his best to stay in character - a confident, heroic matador winning the heart of the dark-feathered _señorita bonita _(pretty girl). He somewhat-suavely walked closer to Sarah, playing the Spanish guitar and singing:

_(A.N.: The words of the song are in italics, and for my less-bilingual readers, I've translated the lyrics so you're in on the joke too)_

_Hola senorita _

**(Hello miss)**

_Como te llamas? _

**(What is your name?)**

_Me llamo _"Private"

_Me llamo _"Private"

**(My name is Private)**

_¿Donde esta el bano? _

**(Where is the bathroom)**

_Feliz cumpleanos!_

**(Happy Birthday!)**

_¿Que hora es?_

_¿Que hora es? _

**(What is the time?)**

_La la la la la_

_Me gusta biblioteca _

**(I like the library)**

_Vivo en la casa roja _

**(I live in a red house)**

_Yo tengo dos bicicletas _

**(I have two bicycles)**

_Muchos gracias y de nada _

**(Thank you and it's nothing)**

_¿Cuantos anos tienes? _

**(How old are you? Literally: How many years do you have?)**

_Un momento, por favor _

**(A moment, please)**

_It's the one-semester of Spanish, Spanish love song_

_Mi mama es bonita _

**(My mother is pretty)**

_Mi gato es muy blanca _

**(My cat is very white)**

_Perdon me, perdon me! _

**(Excuse me, Excuse me!)**

_La la la la la_

_Uno, dos, tres y cuatro _

**(One, two, three and four)**

_Cinco, seis, siete, ocho _

**(Five six seven eight)**

_NUEVE, DIEZ! _

**(NINE, TEN!)**

… _no remember-o how to say 'eleven'_

_Antonio Banderas_

**(a popular Spanish actor: think 'Spy Kids')**

_Nachos grande y 'cinnamon twists'_

_It's the one-semester-of-Spanish, Spanish love song_

… _au revoir… _

**(French - Goodbye)**

He'd hoped to get a laugh or at least a smile with that last verse. The others smiled, and he even heard some applause when he finished, including a wolf-whistle from Rico. But from Sarah - nothing. She actually looked kind of mad.

But Private was too exhilarated from his performance to really notice this.

"So… what do you think?" he asked her excitedly, taking off the guitar and returning to his natural British accent.

Sarah looked back at him with steely eyes. "_Once._ (own-say)."

Private blinked. "What?"

"That's how you say 'eleven.' _Once."_

Private's stomach plummeted. _Oh no... _"You understood what I was really saying the whole time?"

Sarah nodded, still angry. "Yep. Before I took up drawing, we had a new transfer in Boston - he was from New Mexico. Everyone picked up quite a bit of Spanish because he had a big, loud voice and never stopped talking." She narrowed her eyes. "What? You thought I wouldn't know? Just because I didn't go to fricking _military school _or anything doesn't mean I'm stupid!" she shouted.

"No! I didn't mean-" Private tried to protest.

"And take off that... _costume_. You look ridiculous." With that, she stood up and walked to her little corner where her notebook and pencils still lay. Private noticed that when she saw the first page, the drawing she'd been working on since she arrived here, she looked at it for a second, then shook her head and flipped to a brand-new page.

Private was heartbroken - a little angry too. He nearly tore off the jacket, cape, hat and moustache and plopped down on the other side of the HQ. Marlene, also shocked and let down, gingerly stepped towards him.

"Private, I'm sorry." she said contritely. "I had no idea that-"

"That what?" Private spat. "That she might have been different from everyone else you know? She may not be a ray of sunshine, but… that's kind of what I liked about her..." he sighed and looked away. "It's hard to understand. You have to know her, and I shouldn't have thought anything I could do would make her like me."

Marlene began to bend down to comfort him, then thought that maybe it would be best to leave. Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico pitied their hurt comrade, but Private didn't respond when they tried to comfort him.

Vanessa shook her head. Was she really the only one who had the common sense to see what Private really did wrong?

It wasn't the Spanish - it was the _act _he tried to put on_._ If Private had nixed the whole matador-thing, Sarah probably would have loved the song.

Vanessa wanted to help him - he really was a nice boy, someone good for her girl to be with. She nonchalantly strolled near Private and sat about two feet away.

"I'm quite sorry, Miss Vanessa," Private said quietly but polite as always, "but I'd sort of like to be alone right now."

"I know." Vanessa said. "I just... like sitting here. This is a good spot."

Almost ten minutes passed without a single word exchanged between them. Finally, Vanessa spoke up.

"You know, Private... all she really wants is to be accepted. If you were to somehow show her that you love her exactly the way she is... well, she'd probably feel the same way."

With that, she got up and left with a small, knowing smile on her face.

Her statement definitely set Private to thinking. Vanessa seemed to have hit it right on the head... he glanced over at Sarah, who was still hard at work, drawing. He took a closer look at her pencils.

_Now, there's an idea..._

* * *

(1) I'm going into Spanish II this year, and the statement "Anything spoken in an angry voice in Spanish sounds like an insult" is a direct quote from my awesome teacher. Try this sometime - if you're angry at someone and want them to think you insulted them, call them a _sello feo _(say-yo fay-o). It means "ugly seal" as in, "unattractive sea lion".

(2) There really isn't a translation for 'private', so in the Spanish dubbing of 'Madagascar', he's called Soldado, which means 'soldier'.

The clip to hear what the song sounds like - type in the Youtube address into the little white bar at the top, then add in **/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw**

Review!


	6. Chapter 6

Hey! Just to let you guys know, I started school this week, and junior year's looking to be pretty tough, so if my updates are not as frequent (because Flashback will not be my final peice, oh no), be patient with me. However, I'm taking a Creative Writing class this semester, so the quality should be a little better!

Let's see what Private thought of at the end of the last chapter, shall we?

* * *

"Private... this is... great!" Sarah exclaimed, taking the box of brand-new colored pencils Private had just given her (blushing). "Thank you!"

"Well, I couldn't help noticing the other day that your own pencils were getting quite small, the dark-blues and reds were just tiny little stubs…" Private said modestly, proud of himself for finally getting something right.

"One question, though." Sarah said suspiciously, looking up from her inspection of the burgundy. "Where and how did you get these?"

_Sneaking out of the HQ at half-past midnight, catching the only bus that ran near the zoo at that hour - his old foe, 'Graveyard Eight' of course - and holding on to the bumper for dear life for almost ten blocks until he sighted an art supply store, almost getting stuck when he squeezed through a miraculously if minuscule-ly open window, gotten the pencils (paying at least partially for them using a few dollar bills he'd found on the street), missed the bus and had to walk back to the zoo, arriving home at about three-thirty, and had to sleep outside for fear he'd set off the intruder alert by re-entering, then still had to do five o'clock team exercises…_

"Oh, don't worry. It was no trouble at all." Private said brightly.

"Somehow, I highly doubt that." Sarah said with a smirk remarkably like her dad's. "But thanks anyway." She paused for a moment, then continued, "This really does mean a lot to me, Private."

"But that's not even your whole present!" Private blurted out. Darn it! He'd told himself not to do this, but it was too late now, he had to go through with it...

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"

"Yes-"

Private was interrupted by Skipper's commanding voice calling from the fishbowl entry. _"Up top, men!"_

Private frowned as he saw Kowalski and Rico bounding up the ladder, leaving Private and Sarah alone.

"Oh dear - I've got to make this quick, sorry." Private said quickly but apologetically, then - faster than a flash of lightening - kissed Sarah on the cheek.

On that note, he raced up the ladder, grinning like an idiot.

…

"Well, men," Skipper started once his team was in line up top, "A few weeks ago, _Private_ and I made a deal that he could... attempt... _courting_ Sarah after I had gotten to know her a little myself. Since he had already completely disregarded that rule-" Kowalski and Rico sniggered quietly as Private smiled sheepishly "-I have decided to stay at the HQ today with Sarah since Vanessa is out visiting with Marlene. Kowalski, you'll be in charge."

"Yes sir!" Kowalski replied confidently.

"Now, get going. And don't forget to check Ms. Zookeeper's calendar for the week's events!"

"Roger that!" Kowalski yelled as he, Private and Rico triple-flipped out of the habitat.

Skipper watched his team go, then turned back around. With a deep breath, he slid away the fishbowl and jumped inside the HQ.

What he saw before him was quite puzzling, to say the least. Sarah was standing in the middle of the room, holding in one flipper, a new box of what looked like colored pencils, and with the other flipper was touching the right side of her face. She was smiling and staring off into space.

"Uh, you okay?" Skipper said a little worriedly, waving his flippers to get her attention.

"Huh?" Sarah blinked and shook her head a little. "Yeah, fine, I'm just a little... discombobulated." She looked at him pointedly. "Aren't you supposed to be on one of your commando operations with the other guys?"

"I decided to take the day off." Skipper stated. He eyed the new pencils suspiciously. "Where did you get those?"

She let out a little smile. "Private just gave them to me." she turned and put the box of pencils next to her notebook and other, much-shorter drawing utensils. As she did this, Skipper smirked.

"You really like him, don'tcha?"

Sarah shot him a typical, meaningless teenage glare. "Since when have you been so interrogative?"

Skipper shrugged. "Since army training, I guess. Colonel always said-"

Sarah held up a flipper, interrupting him. "Rhetorical question, dude. Rhetorical question."

"Oh." Skipper muttered.

Sarah shook her head again and sat down in her usual spot in the shadow of the TV set, picking up her notebook and a pencil.

Skipper would have none of that. Not now. "Wait a minute! I'm trying to talk to you!"

"Believe it or not," Sarah said sarcastically and not looking up, "it is possible to talk and draw at the same time."

"Oh." Skipper said again. This was so _awkward!_ "Well, um..."

"Let me guess." Sarah said, somewhat amused now, "You've got questions and think it would be too awkward to ask them?"

"Yes." Skipper said.

"So do I. We'll do '20 Questions.' That sound good?"

"Yeah!" Skipper said, relieved. Sarah motioned with a wave of her flipper for him to start.

"Alright... can I see what in the name of pickled schnauzers you're so busy with?"

"Not until I'm done." She replied curtly. Skipper figured that made sense.

Sarah put a little more thought into her first question: "Can I trust Private?"

"Huh?"

"I've had my heart broken before and am not exactly springing for the chance to experience that again." she elaborated a little darkly.

Skipper let out a short, derisive laugh. "Believe me - you'd be in more danger of _heartbreak _being with a toothpick."

That got a real smile out of Sarah, a good smile of assurance and humor. Skipper saw this and had a thought that she should smile more often.

Skipper moved on. "Why do you dye your feathers like that?"

Sarah gave him the same reason she'd told Private weeks ago when they had gotten the popcorn and had their first real conversation. Though he didn't really show it, Skipper's heart broke when he'd heard how the other penguins had treated her... if he'd been there, those 'elders' probably would no longer have a beak to turn up in the air...

Then came one of Sarah's more meaningful questions.

"Did you ever wonder, just for a moment, how my mom was doing after you left?"

Skipper took a minute to figure out how to word his answer truthfully.

"Yeah... I thought about her all the time, actually. She was one of the reasons I worked so hard, I wanted to somehow show her I hadn't left without a reason... Part of me always wanted to go back to her, but... I had found my niche in the army. I was Colonel's model student, the one who was going places, and I felt a sense of belonging there I had never felt anywhere else. I suppose I could have signed up for on-call duty and when band to Antarctica, but I could have been called back at any moment of any day, then gone for months, maybe years at a time... Vanessa never would have approved of that. So I stayed in training... neither of us know how to read or write, so a letter was out of the question, and it's not like there are telephones in Antarctica. I asked a few men who were going back home to break the news gently to her..." he chuckled a bit. "You know, a few years back, in 2005, I actually organized a mission for the team and I to go back to Antarctica. First we planned on digging there - our tunnels are still all over the zoo from miscalculating the distance, it's how we get around so fast - but that just ended up in almost getting sent to Africa. We manifested the ship we were on and finally got back to Antarctica, the rest of the boys thought it was only because we were _penguins_ and that's where we belonged... I just wanted to see Vanessa again, to see she was alive and well... that's how I got intel that she had been sent to a zoo, but they didn't know where or that you were with her..." He paused again, "And Sarah?"

"Yeah?" She had long since looked up from her drawing.

"If I'd ever known you were in the picture... that Vanessa... that _we..._had..." he was choking up a little and fumbling for words. He wasn't used to dealing with this amount of... emotion! "I would have gone back in a heartbeat. No questioning, no nothing…I would have resigned immediately and gone back to both of you girls, but the fact was I didn't know, and-"

"I get it." Sarah said, with a tear threatening to fall at any second. "Seriously, I get it."

Skipper honestly couldn't believe what she just said. "You're not... angry at me?"

"No." Sarah replied calmly. "I know more than anybody how important it is to be true to yourself. You did what you had to do, and I respect that. In fact, I probably got my own... self-awareness from you."

Skipper chuckled a little at that. "Most likely."

"By the way," Sarah said in a teasing tone she hadn't used for a few years, "that counted as your next question. My turn again."

"Come on!" Skipper exclaimed. "I had a good one too-"

"Okay, what?" Sarah relented.

"When's your birthday?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "That's it? Okay then... October twenty-third."

Skipper looked at the team's calendar... October twenty-third was exactly four weeks ago. "They shipped you and Vanessa here on your birthday?"

Sarah nodded and smirked. "Best present _ever_."

As Sarah asked her next question ("Why can't Rico talk?") the trophy door in the back opened noiselessly, allowing Marlene and Vanessa to enter. Skipper noticed, of course, but after seeing who it was, ignored the women and continued his explanation of Rico's muteness.

Marlene was touched. "That's so cute - Skipper talking with her like that..."

Vanessa was in tears. "No, Marlene. It's a miracle."

* * *

I've been waiting to write this chapter for ages. I hope it turned out okay - Skipper seemed a little (or a lot) out of character sometimes...

Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Just a warning: This chapter is RIDICULOUSLY long and the ending is fluffy beyond all reason.

Enjoy!

* * *

The following Thursday was turning out to be pretty normal - breakfast, Sarah drew and Vanessa watched a show on TV while the guys did their training exercises, lunch and entertaining the masses. The real excitement began at the stroke of five o'clock, when the zoo closed - and Maurice popped into the penguin's habitat, looking very rushed but excited.

"The last leaf fell his morning - party's in an hour, if you'll bother yourselves to come this year." he said quickly, then left just as fast as he'd come.

Vanessa blinked. "What's he talking about?"

Kowalski explained, "Ever since they got here about six years ago, the lemurs have been under the impression that the season of autumn is a gift bestowed upon us by the 'sky spirits', for us to enjoy before the harsh winter begins - there is neither autumn nor fall in Madagascar, where they're from - not like here in North America. Anyway, when the final leaf of the tree next to their enclosure falls, they hold a huge party, supposedly in honor of the sky spirits. We never go - it interferes with our training schedule."

"Not that it really makes a difference, you can hear the noise from inside the HQ." Skipper said, annoyed at the memories.

"But, maybe we could go this year, Skippah?" Private asked hopefully. "What with the girls here and all..."

"Yeah, I'd be up for a party!" Vanessa agreed.

Skipper paused for a moment, weighing the options. All he could really think of was how the boys would act at five o'clock warm-ups... but it really seemed like they wanted to go, and he could only imagine how a party would help Sarah out somehow... well, if nothing else came out of this, he'd be able to analyze how well his team dealt with unfavorable consequences.

"All right, boys, put on your dancing shoes - we're going out tonight!" Skipper announced.

Almost everyone cheered excitedly and ran inside the HQ to prepare (Vanessa to primp and do girly stuff, the guys to set up the necessary security devices). There was, however, one unhappy camper in the HQ - and I'll give you one guess as to who it was.

Private noticed it first. As the others were getting ready, Sarah was sitting in her usual spot - alone and calm as ever. Concerned, he walked closer. "Sarah? Aren't you coming?"

"I don't think so." She said, shrugging. "It'll be nice and quiet here with everyone gone - I could put on some classical music or something later…" In spite of her casual tone, Private knew he saw a certain longing in her eyes - she wanted to go... but what would she do at something as loud and obnoxious as one of Julien's parties? Private suddenly came up with a way for her to go, the way she really wanted to.

"Maybe... you and I could, you know, go... together?" he said shyly.

Sarah felt a little jerk in her hand as the tip of her pencil snapped - thank God it was one of her old ones! - as she froze in surprise. Did he just ask her to go to the party with her?

"Like... together-together?" she said, trying to keep up her usual dry, sarcastic tone but not really pulling it off.

Private nodded.

Sarah only needed a moment to decide. She put down her notebook and broken pencil. "Well... that changes matters, right?"

Private beamed. "Great! Should we go over now? We could help Julien prepare for the party -"

Sarah almost said yes, then bit back her answer - there was something she'd been feeling the need to do lately, and now was the perfect time to act. "You go ahead - I'll meet you later." Private nodded. Just as he turned to leave, Sarah said, "Wait a sec - you guys got any soap anywhere?"

Private blinked. Soap? That was random... "Yeah, in the bathroom, there's a used bar on the counter and a couple new ones in the cabinet under the sink. Why?"

"Oh... you'll see." Sarah said slyly, shuffling off into the bathroom.

…

About an hour later…

Julien's party was just as loud and colorful as Private always thought it would be. Every animal in the zoo was there - Burt, the chimps, Bada and Bing, Marlene, even Barry the frog was there. He'd reformed from his evil-toxic-touch ways when Private had shown him some kindness and was currently wearing froggy-sized, sticky gloves on his arms and legs so that he could still jump around without hurting anyone.

Private was starting to worry a little about Sarah. She still hadn't arrived yet - had she changed her mind and decided not to come after all? Maybe he should go to the HQ and see...

"Private!"

He heard his name called out above the roar of the music. Private turned around, and sighed of relief when he saw Sarah easing her way through the small crowd on the sidelines. There seemed to be something different about her - he squinted his eyes. It finally became obvious when she was about five feet away.

"Your feathers are white!" he exclaimed. "That's why you needed the soap!"

"Yeah, the whole dark thing was getting a little old... I used up a bar and a half of soap to get all the Sharpie out." She said, proudly. Private laughed - he liked the new look.

…

The party was a blast. Private didn't try to force Sarah onto the dance floor so they didn't dance much, but that was okay - neither of them were really into Julien's mix of music anyway. Plus they got the best seats for some of the most fun moments of the party - when Skipper challenged Julien into dancing into any song of Skipper's choosing. Julien ferociously accepted the challenge of course, and he was finally able to get the best of Skipper when he managed to fantastically pull off Katy Perry's "California Gurls." Later on, Skipper got a challenge of his own - Vanessa brought her own CD up to the DJ and dragged Skipper onto the floor, where they danced to their song - "You're the One that I Want" from _Grease._ Private ended up getting a little action on the dance floor when he begged Skipper to let them do their dance routine (Skipper, Kowalski and Rico preferred to call it their "synchronized-rhythmic-exercises"), which went along suspiciously well with one of Skipper's favorite songs - "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers. Private even had an opportunity to impress Sarah, when he ended up at the bottom of the penguin totem pole and had to launch Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and himself six feet into the air so they could simultaneously double-twisted-flip and land squarely on their feet.

Finally, a slower song came on. Maurice, the DJ, had purposefully waited for a slow song since he knew there weren't many girls in their zoo. Ironically though, all the penguins managed to find a partner - Skipper and Vanessa, Kowalski and Marlene (there were a few raised eyebrows over this) Rico and his doll (his date for the evening), and Private and Sarah. Actually, there were only two entirely non-penguin couples on the dance floor - Maurice (who'd given the turntables to Joey, a surprisingly good DJ, for a while) and his new girlfriend Darla the baboon, and Mort with a replica of Julien's foot he'd had since the king's run-in with Dr. Blowhole.

As the song played the first verse (Private wasn't sure what song it was), he wasn't entirely surprised to discover Sarah didn't know how to slow-dance. She hadn't really been to a party before, much less danced at one.

"It's no really that hard, I'll show you." Private said kindly. He took her flippers and carefully put them around his own neck, inadvertently pulling her closer as he did so. Sarah felt a tiny shiver go up he spine when she felt Private's hands on her waist, gently guiding her to the left, then to the right, swaying in time to the music.

Sarah liked this dance… but what she didn't like was how she could _feel _everyone staring at her. She felt like she and Private were on display or something! Sarah tried her best to focus on Private and not the crowd around her... it became increasingly easier to do so as the song progressed. She chanced a look at the other couples: Kowalski and Marlene were talking like the friends they really were; Rico and his doll were kissing (or at least, Rico was kissing her); Mort and the foot kind of scared her; Maurice and Darla looked uncomfortable (considering the difference in size) but happy all the same; best of all, she saw that Skipper was holding Vanessa very close - her head was resting on his chest and he was stroking her back. Content, Sarah looked back up at Private... she'd never noticed just how blue Private's eyes were, or how his beak always had a little curve to it, even when he wasn't trying to smile...

The song ended. Private, sensing her ever-decreasing-but-never-disappearing discomfort, quickly led her off the dance floor.

"I'm sorry, I know you didn't want to dance, but-"

"It's fine." Sarah said. "I actually kind of liked it. I just don't know how everyone else can get so _intimate_ when you know everyone's watching you!"

"It is quite crowded tonight, I agree." Private said. He looked up at the clock tower to check the time. _Wait a minute…_

The clock tower!

Private beamed and grabbed Sarah's hand, jerking her towards the entrance of the zoo. "WHOA! Private-!" Sarah shouted in surprise.

"I've got an idea! Follow me!" he shouted back excitedly.

Sarah still was quite unsure of what he was doing but felt she'd do anything to get out of this crowd. She followed him out of the lemur habitat.

Private led her to the bottom of the clock tower, near the right corner, beside a trash can. Sarah didn't think this spot was particularly romantic or anything.

"Where are we going?" Sarah said, getting a little impatient.

Private smiled slyly and pointed straight up to the bell of the clock tower. Sarah looked up - leading up to that spot was about fifty feet up unblemished, unadorned concrete.

"Maybe you haven't noticed..." Sarah said in her classic sarcastic tone, "but I'm not a ninja like you guys are. How am I supposed to get up there without throwing your back out somehow?"

"You don't have to be a ninja at all to get up there." Private said. "You just have to know one of us."

"Huh?"

Private waddled over to the trash can and touched a wad of ABC gum. Sarah wrinkled her face - that was kind of gross.

"Wait for it..." Private said. He pushed down on the 'gum' (a cleverly painted bit of metal). There were a bunch of mechanical sounds and a penguin-sized portion of the concrete wall slid into the ground, revealing an elevator of Kowalski's invention.

Sarah's eyebrows flew up. "I have to admit - that's pretty cool."

Within a minute or so, they arrived at the top of the building, near the huge bell. Sarah was out first - when she saw the view, she couldn't help but gasp.

"Oh my God... you can see the whole zoo from up here!" she exclaimed.

"It is a nice view, isn't it?" Private agreed.

She smirked at looked over at him. "Makes good distance for surveillance, right?" she said. Private nodded.

Sarah looked up into the sky. There was a crescent moon tonight - it seemed huge from up here. Sarah randomly stuck her flipper high in the air, reaching for something.

"What're you doing?" Private said with a small smile.

"Trying to reach the moon, of course!" Sarah said, as though it were painfully obvious. She glanced back at him. "Don't just stand there - gimme a boost!"

Private smiled and, after Sarah put down her flipper, eased her up so she was standing on his shoulders. She reached up again, but soon lost her balance and sent them both to the ground with a synchronized "OOF!"

Private sat up. There was never really a dull moment when he was with Sarah - when he noticed she was still laying on her side and was making some sort of forced gasping noise.

"Sarah!" he cried, terrified she was hurt, and was about to flip her over when Sarah held out her flipper, stopping him, and rolled onto her back, still making that weird sound. There was nothing wrong with her - she was _laughing._ Private knew he'd never heard her laugh before - not the way she was now, taking deep gulps of air and snorting out gales of unadulterated laughter. Private didn't really know what was so funny, but he started laughing too, and soon, both of them were unable to breathe, rolling around on the concrete and fell into silent cheese-out. (1)

It took about ten minutes for them to calm down. Both of them were still lying on the concrete, right beside each other. Sarah chanced a look at Private, and got quite a start when their beaks were about a half-inch apart. Her first response was to back away, but then her dad's words filled her mind:

"_You'd be in more danger of heartbreak being with a toothpick..."_

She didn't really feel the need to think it over. She looked up into the sky and scooted her body a little closer to Private's. He was surprised by this, and very slowly and shyly put his arm around her. He looked up to the sky too, and caught a glimpse of something bright shining in the NYC night sky.

"Ooh! There's a star out tonight!" he said excitedly.

Sarah shook her head (which was resting in the crook of Private's shoulder) and said, "It's probably just a helicopter."

They waited for well over a quarter of an hour, watching the light, but it never moved even a bit. In fact, it almost seemed to twinkle…

"Actually, Private, I think that is a star!" Sarah said, amazed. There weren't many stars in Boston, either - especially not in the indoor penguin habitat.

Private jostled her a little. "Told you!"

Sarah gave him a endearingly dirty look and admitted he was right.

Private paused. Seeing that star made him remember something.

"Speaking of stars," he began, "it's so odd... I've had the same song stuck in my head for about a week now, and I can't even remember where I first heard it."

"Huh." Sarah said, enjoying the star's presence.

Now that Private was reminded of it, the song got stuck in his head again. He quietly sang:

_Starry, starry night_

_Paint your palette blue and grey_

_Look out on a summer's day_

_With eyes that know the darkness in my soul..._

Sarah froze. Didn't he realize... that was HER song... her heart-song!

_Shadows on the hills_

_Sketch the trees and daffodils_

_Catch the breeze and the winter chills_

_In colors on the snowy linen land..._

She looked up at him, overjoyed but at the same time a little frustrated he wasn't getting it. _His guy-ness had to show up at some point, _she thought to herself. Maybe she should help him out - Sarah knew he wasn't the only one hearing strange songs…

She sang over him:

_Just a small-town girl_

_Livin' in a lonely world_

_She took the midnight train goin' anywhere_

_Just a city boy _

_Born and raised in south Detroit_

_He took the midnight train goin' anywhere_

Private stopped singing when she started and looked down with wide eyes. When she was finished, Sarah looked up. She had a tear in her eye.

"You…" Private sputtered. "You - that was-"

"I know." Sarah said simply.

Something in his eyes told Sarah he finally got it.

"I - was - hearing -"

Sarah nodded.

Private beamed and hugged Sarah tightly. He felt Sarah's tear fall on his feathers.

He tenderly kissed the top of her head. Without any though process whatsoever, Sarah's flippers flew up and redirected Private's face so that they were kissing beak-to-beak - a first kiss for both of them.

It lasted about five seconds, then Sarah suddenly let go and sat up, leaving a dazed Private still laying on the ground. Sarah was blushing like a tomato - not that you could tell over her feathers, but still, you get the principle.

"Oh my God..." Sarah said to herself.

Still in a daze, Private frowned confusedly. He felt exactly the same as that one time he'd been enjoying a butterscotch lollipop and Skipper had yanked it away, telling him there were no sweets before bed allowed…

Private wanted his lollipop back.

He sat up and turned Sarah back towards him, looking her gently in the eye before kissing her again.

Sarah slowly closed her eyes and put her arms around Private's neck, just like he'd shown her when they danced - Sarah felt a flipper on her lower back and another on the back of her head, both pulling her closer.

…

At that exact moment, Skipper was still in the lemurs' habitat, at the party. It was almost one in the morning - his team, at least, should really get back soon.

The song changed - he recognized it immediately, it was one of Private's absolute favorites... maybe they could wait until this song was over...

Wait... where was Private, anyway? He hadn't seen him or Sarah for at least an hour. He looked around - they weren't even here!

He got off the dance floor and stood on top of the lemurs' plastic volcano, looking all over the zoo. He thought he caught a glimpse of black and white on top of the clock tower...

"HEY! RICO!" Skipper yelled down at the party. Rico, who'd been doing disturbing 'grind' dance moves with his doll, looked up. Skipper made a motion indicating he wanted the binoculars.

Rico gagged them up and deftly threw them to Skipper, then immediately resumed his twisted (literally - ew!) dancing. Skipper shivered a little, seeing this, then pointed the binoculars towards the top of the clock tower.

He was prepared to see a lot of things - what he wasn't prepared to see was Private and Sarah, alone at the top of the clock tower, kissing passionately. Of course, that is what he ended up seeing.

He fell off the volcano.

…

At about the same moment Skipper stopped watching, Sarah and Private broke apart, gasping for air.

"Wow..." they both said at the same time.

For the first time in the last hour, Private noticed the music coming from the lemurs'. He smiled when he recognized it:

_Your lipstick stains _

_On the front lobe of my left side brains_

_I need when we collided_

_You're the one I have decided_

_Who's one of my kind…_

Private stepped away and held out his flipper. "Care to dance?"

Sarah smirked. "Not the way you showed me before - that's not a _dance, _that's a slow-mo _hug!"_

She grabbed his hand and pulled him closer, beginning some sort of swing-jive-lindy hop thing. Private caught on quickly, really enjoying it, and realizing for the first time how well this song fit the two of them…

_Hey soul sister_

_Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio, stereo_

_The way you move ain't fair, you know_

_Hey soul sister_

_I don't wanna miss a single thing you do-oooo…_

_Tonight..._

Only too soon, the song was ending. During the final "heys", Private bent over a little and literally swept her off her feet, spinning her around and holding her securely in his arms. Sarah laughed again out of pure joy - she'd never been this happy in her whole life!

As the song ended with "_Tonight..."_ Private slowed down and stopped spinning, kissing her one more time. He wished his night would never end…

He heard clapping. Lots of clapping - he nearly dropped Sarah when he looked away from her and saw Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, his doll, and Vanessa looking at them with huge smiles and applauding. Rico wolf-whistled. Private and Sarah blushed - Private hastily returned Sarah to her feet.

"All right, you two turtledoves," Skipper said patronizingly, "time to go home before you go flying off on Cloud Nine."

"Seriously?" Sarah said. Private was thinking the same thing, but knew better than to question Skipper (even in non-team-related matters like this)

"It is getting late..." Private said regretfully. So much for this night never ending.

Sarah didn't like it, but eventually agreed and walked back to the HQ with everyone else - lagging behind with Private by her side.

As the rest of the penguins (and the doll) went inside the HQ, Private and Sarah stayed outside for a moment, holding flippers.

"Good-night, Sarah." Private said.

"Good-night, Private." Sarah replied. Private looked around, then at the unmoving fishbowl, then quickly kissed Sarah one last time that night. He leaned in close and whispered:

"_I love you."_

Sarah, who'd gone through enough tonight to not be entirely surprised by this, simply replied, "I love you too... but to we really have to be so clichéd about it?"

"But the clichés are half the fun!" Private argued jauntily "I mean, why fix what isn't broken?"

Sarah didn't really have a good answer. For now, she was happy.

* * *

(1) Yeah... at my school, instead of saying someone was laughing, we say they were 'cheesing out'. Thought I'd put it in here for some reason.

Private's Song: "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey

http:/ www . youtube . com/watch?v=rfUYuIVbFg0

Sarah's Song: "Starry Starry Night" performed by Josh Groban

http:/ www . youtube . com/watch?v=sI8fsi_aJ3c&feature=related


	8. Chapter 8

Uh... yeah...

Remember how the last chapter was so ridiculously fluffy? Well, there's a reason I had to make it so friggin' happy... read. You'll see.

* * *

The next two months were some of the happiest yet in the entire history of the HQ. Private felt like he was walking on air whenever he was with Sarah - Sarah would never word it that way, but felt exactly the same. Christmas was the best - Sarah finally finished her drawing (her best to date, quite truthfully) and presented it to Private as her Christmas gift to him. Private - and the rest of the team - was astounded at just how talented an artist Sarah was - the abstract shapes filled the page just as masterfully as any human in art school could have done it, perhaps even better - Private smiled when he saw his own eyes hidden in the beautiful thing Sarah had created.

About a week before Christmas, Private _almost _regretted giving her those colored pencils - this was _Sarah_ we were talking about! She didn't need or even _want _anything else than to draw and... be with him...

After a lot of consideration (and a short conversation with both Marlene and Vanessa), he decided to not give her a gift at all - at least, not one you could give in a box. On December twenty-third, when everything in town was still open, Private took Sarah out for a whole day and most of the night on the town - just the two of them. They toured an art gallery, skated at Rockefeller Center (at least, until they heard some jerk calling animal control on them), shared a mug of hot chocolate (Private swiped it off of someone, then left enough money in its place to buy another one), and ended the day by going to the last showing (this year) of the Broadway hit musical, _Wicked._ Both Sarah and Private had a blast!

Everything was perfect… until that horrible, horrible day, January twenty-fifth.

…

Skipper knew something was up when he saw Alice skulking around the zoo that morning. It was very unusual for Alice to come to work when she didn't have to, and especially not during the winter. She usually just fed all the animals, made sure no one was dying, and left. The penguins were almost finished with their breakfast and she was still here. Skipper became especially concerned when he noticed she was holding a large cage. He realized with a jolt that someone was going to be transferred.

He told the others of his observation. Vanessa dropped her fish in shock. "Oh no..."

"What? What's wrong?" Skipper said urgently.

Vanessa shakily said, "Our three months are up... Sarah and I were supposed to be here three months while our habitat in Boston was being renovated..."

No one moved - except Sarah, who was jerkily shaking her head, unwilling to accept.

"No... no... I can't... I won't...!" she stuttered. She froze, staring into space, then slowly lifted her flipper till it pointed directly in front of her. "Alice!"

They turned. Alice was heading directly towards them, with the cage - perfectly Sarah-and-Vanessa sized.

"NO!" Sarah cried out. Private held her close, turning his back to Alice, trying to shield Sarah - she was not leaving without a fight, not if Private had anything to do about it.

Alice boredly put down the plank that allowed her to get into the habitat, walking across it. Skipper called for evasive maneuvers, and everyone ran amok in different directions, trying to confuse the zookeeper. Alice wasn't really surprised by this - she'd seen much weirder - and looked around.

"Oh, there's one." Alice said. She waited a moment, following Vanessa with her eyes, then jumped and caught her.

"SKIPPER!" Vanessa cried out, trying to wriggle away. Skipper didn't waste anytime, sliding over to Alice from the other side of the concrete floe, but he was still too late - Vanessa was quickly tossed inside the cage and locked in. Alice put it down to resume her hunt. Skipper tried to break it open, but the locks were state-of-the-art animal-proofed.

"Kowalski! Rico!" he called, and immediately the two of them leapt over and went to work picking the lock. However, the loss of two penguins drastically decreased Alice's confusion, with only two others still doing maneuvers.

"Ha! There you are!" Alice said triumphantly, then made a grab for Sarah, who dodged with a scream just in time. "Come on!" Alice said stubbornly, with another grab, "time..." another, "to go..." another, "HOME!"

Success.

"PRIVATE!" Sarah screamed, pecking and slapping Alice's thickly gloved hands (it was January, after all). "HELP!"

Private, completely forgetting Section 3 of the Penguin Credo (never reveal yourselves to the humans), launched himself in a ninja-kick$$ pose at Alice. Wouldn't you know it, Alice turned just in time to miss him, and bent down to pick up the cage and ninja-Private soared right over her head and landed on the icy moat below, knocking the wind right out of himself. A little dizzy from the fall, he stood up and tried to get back on the concrete and continue to fight. But even so, he was simply too late. Alice had left the habitat.

Sarah's and Vanessa's cries intermingled in the relative silence of the zoo.

"_Private!"_

"_Skipper!"_

"_HELP…"_

Private felt tears well up in his eyes. "No... it can't be..._ Sarah..._"

Kowalski bent down his head and said quietly, "I heard Alice tell Chad (the other employee we never see the face of) that the truck was coming in a half-hour. We still have time to go say good-bye."

…

Five minutes later, the team entered the zoo hospital, where the animals were kept until they were shipped or brought to a habitat. Private was holding Sarah's notebook and pencils - old and new. She'd have left them at the HQ otherwise.

But when Private slipped them through the bars of the cage, Sarah shook her head and threw them to the floor.

"I don't want them - I want _you!" _she said angrily. She thrust her arms through the cage, reaching for Private. He slipped his arms through too, and held her tighter than ever before. Sarah tried to press her face into his chest, but the damned bars wouldn't allow it. She started to cry - once again, Private felt her tears fall on his feathers, but it didn't have quite the same effect as last time. Private fit his beak through a larger opening and kissed her beak, a bit more forcefully than he'd intended. Sarah pressed her flippers into his back, trying to somehow pull herself out of this cage and back into his safe, warm arms.

Private let go of her beak, and whispered that he loved her.

"_No matter what anyone else ever says, know that you are the most beautiful, smart, funny, wonderful girl I'll ever meet." _Private whispered sweetly.

Sarah opened her beak to say something similar, but nothing came out. "I'll never forget you, Private." was all she could manage. "You're... you're..."

"I get it." Private said with a smile, quoting her. She barely smiled.

Meanwhile, Skipper talked to Vanessa from the other side of the cage.

"Skipper - I, um..." Vanessa said.

"Yeah?"

She smiled and shook her head. "All I want to say is... never lose the eye of the tiger."

Skipper blinked, then smiled, recognized the words to his own heart-song. He replied, "Vanessa... just keep _stand - _ing up for yourself - and for Sarah, too." Skipper embraced her for one last time. Truly, they were sad to leave each other, but it wasn't quite the same as Private and Sarah. Skipper loved Vanessa, and vice versa, but they didn't really _need _each other. Both Skipper and Vanessa had that rare, innate sense of independence and resiliency that they were complete without each other - their love was more like putting frosting on a cake that tasted just fine on its own.

Private and Sarah, on the other hand... they balanced each other out. Sarah helped Private become more mature and able to see the world through normally-colored glasses, as opposed to his previously rose-tinted ones, as it were. Similarly, Private helped Sarah understand that the world wasn't all heartache and rejection - there was also love, and dreams that could be achieved - Private showed her see the simple comfort and happiness that could be found in seeing a smile on the face of someone you loved, or in the everlasting chocolate-y smell from an empty wrapper from a Peanut-butter Winkie.

You know, while we're monologging about emotions, it is well worth a mention that Kowalski had had to leave a few minutes ago… seeing Private and Sarah touched the scientist's seemingly dormant heart in a way no one else could know. It gave him an overwhelming sense of déjà vu - he was reminded of a day in his own life, years and years ago, when he'd been forced to leave a girl he'd loved dearly, saying his final goodbyes and sharing a chaste kiss through the bars of that infernal cage. He could barely keep his tear from falling... wait... no, he couldn't keep it from falling.

As for Rico... well, he was sad, it was true, but this particular scene didn't move in him the any special way like it did the rest of his teammates... if anything it gave Rico a certain appreciation that _his _girlfriend wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Anyway, back to the scene. Skipper was finished saying good-bye to Vanessa, and cleared his throat. "Sarah?"

Sarah slowly broke away from Private. "Yeah?"

"Good-bye." Skipper said. Sarah gladly accepted his hug.

"Good-bye, Dad." she said.

He quietly but forcefully told her, "Don't lose hope. You _will_ see Private again - one way or another. Don't ever lose hope."

Sarah half-smiled. "You mean, _don't stop believing?"_

"What?"

"Never mind."

"You know, Boston's not _that _far away..." Skipper consoled the young couple, changing the subject. "Of course, the water'll be too cold to swim through, it is the end of January... and it's too far to walk around all the rivers… we'd probably have to wait until spring."

"I wouldn't bother, the elders wouldn't let you in." Vanessa said. Sarah nodded in agreement.

Skipper shrugged. "So we'd have to crack a few beaks - it's all in the name of love, right?"

Sarah tried to smile. Spring could be over two months away! Sarah and Private both knew it would seem more like an eternity.

Kowalski silently re-entered the room (not that anyone but Rico had really noticed he'd left) and said, "Skipper, the truck just arrived. Alice is on her way now."

Private looked at Sarah, right in the eye. Reaching through the bars, he gently pulled her face closer and kissed her one last time, said that he loved her...

And then he was gone.

Sarah felt tears welling up in her eyes. She accepted her mother's hug, but her eyes were dead. Vanessa was about to say something encouraging, but then Alice entered the room and stopped her.

…

Fifteen minutes later, the penguins were back in their habitat. In the dead silence of the zoo, they heard the sound of an engine being revved up, and then they saw the truck leave the zoo.

Skipper looked over at Private. He was surprised, even shocked to see a crazed, Rico-worthy look on the Private's face, as if he was about to jump out of the habitat and cling to that truck's bumper all the way to Boston. Skipper put his flipper on Private's shoulder. Their eyes met, and Skipper shook his head, silently telling Private to stay where he was.

Private lost the crazy look, but still didn't look right. He turned away and watched the truck drive away, taking his own heart with it.

* * *

You see what I meant? It's so sad, I was crying as I wrote this.

Skipper's heart-song: "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor

http:/ www . youtube . com/watch?v=QEjgPh4SEmU

On a (not-so-much) happier note, did you catch my little shout-out to Katrina? I finally figured out a timeline for this series, so I can assure you that this will not be the last part of Flashback - there will be an epilouge after this story is over, telling you when everything happened.

Review!

Vanessa's heart-song: "Stand" by Rascal Flatts (I was originally going to use this song for Skipper, but realized it would be practically a crime to not use "Eye of the Tiger" instead) http:/www . youtube .com/watch?v=OT10h5vqmZs


	9. Chapter 9

Hey everyone!

First off, I'd like to apologize for the sad-ness of the last chapter, but remember Skipper's words: Don't lose hope!

You know, you can tell if you are either an enthusiastic author or a sadist when you are actually quite joyous when people send in reviews saying they were crying while they read your chapter... yeah. I was actually pretty happy - that was the reaction I was going for.

Anyway, next chapter!

* * *

The ride back to Boston was just as silent as the trip to New York - the only difference was that the previous sounds of the scratches of Sarah's pencil against paper had been replaced by her occasional sniffle as she tried her best to hold back her tears and be strong for her mom. Vanessa realized, sitting in the dark silence, that no matter how much Sarah had changed in New York, only she would be able to decide whether to show it or not when they got back to Boston (neither of them could properly call it 'home' anymore.)

The truck finally stopped about a day and a half later. The girls felt the wooden shipping box being lifted and carried somewhere. Sarah halfheartedly gathered up her notebook and pencils (she hadn't drawn so much as a dot the whole way) while Vanessa patted down her ruffled feathers.

The box was set down and opened. Vanessa walked out first, then Sarah. The first thing that came to mind was their new surroundings. The remodel-ers had done a pretty good job - the walls were newly painted to look like an iceberg scene, there was a larger swimming pool that went right up to the glass _(so the humans can bother us while swimming, too_, Vanessa thought humorously) and there was shaved ice - I mean, 'snow' - falling from a few vents in the ceiling. The second thing that came to Vanessa and Sarah's mind was _Oh, no._

For, standing right before them were the penguin elders: the burly brothers Mark and Max, who were responsible for keeping the peace (mainly due to their intimidating-ly bulky muscles rather than any idea they could have of justice); a matchmaker, Jeanie, who'd given up on Sarah long ago (she also had an ironically bad sense of judgment, which was probably the reason the penguins exhibit was remarkably low on chicks); and of course, the council itself which consisted of four penguins -BreAnn, Jay, Ben, and the leader of them all - Miranda. (1)

When the box opened, the elders were smiling, happy as can be, until the girls actually walked out. The smiles drooped instantly, but never disappeared completely - have to keep up appearances, you know. Miranda opened her arms, dotted in gray feathers that made it kind of look like she was re-growing down feathers.

"Ah, misses Vanessa and Sarah!" Miranda said in a welcoming tone that didn't convince anybody. "Welcome back! I do hope your stay abroad was enjoyable?"

Sarah looked away, trying to hide her smirk. Enjoyable? It was the best three months of her life.

"Yes, it was." Vanessa said cordially. "We were transferred to New York City. I was reunited with Sarah's father, actually." Vanessa hoped it would help Sarah if Miranda knew that Skipper still cared about his ex-wife.

But apparently not. Probably had to be present to win that award. "Really?" Miranda said. "How nice."

Always eager to get a new bit of gossip going, BreAnn asked excitedly, "What did you do to him?"

"What?" Vanessa said, thrown off guard.

"Well, after the way he'd treated you..." BreAnn elaborated. Everyone knew what Skipper had done, after Vanessa had explained long ago why Sarah had no father.

"Well... I yelled at him quite a bit, and slapped him a few times..." Vanessa said, remembering that first day and smiling a bit.

"And?"

"And what?"

"What else?" BreAnn said impatiently.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "There was nothing else. Skipper apologized to me, accepted - no, he _welcomed _Sarah as his daughter, and took all further responsibility for his actions. I forgave him."

Not only BreAnn, but the whole council was flabbergasted.

Sarah finally spoke up. "Haven't you ever heard of the saying 'let bygones be bygones'? _Obviously not..." _she added under her breath.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at Sarah and said in a clipped, steely voice, "Ah, yes… I wonder, Miss Sarah - did you do anything besides that infernal drawing while you were away, or did you, as you do here, not think your company worthy enough of your attention?"

Vanessa balled up her flippers in anger. After a whopping two minutes back, Miranda was already getting on Sarah's case?

Sarah got angry too, thinking the same thing as her mother. She strode up a couple of steps closer and said right into Miranda's face:

"Yes, I definitely did stuff besides my drawing. I skated at Rockefeller Center; I went to a party; I had my first kiss; I went to a wild party; I was presented with a heartfelt if badly written Spanish love song; and best of all, I _finally_ saw how it felt to love someone with all my heart, and the sensation of seeing that love returned likewise..."

Sarah was almost in tears. All the bitterness she'd been hoarding up all these years was springing up like a fountain, and the assured knowledge of Private's love gave her courage to finally stand up for herself. Sarah looked Miranda in the eye and saw the shocked expressions of all the council members. She continued.

"What? You didn't think someone as different as me could ever find love? Well… thanks to you all, I almost didn't and never would have - not here. But finally, miraculously, I got out of here and only then could have had the chance to find someone to love. And I did!" She paused for a second, dropping her voice to a quieter, but just as forceful and proud tone: "No matter what you will ever do or say to me... no matter how you judge me or say I'm odd… Private loves me for who I am. He loves my talent at art, my darker worldview... heck, he even loves my sarcasm - he thinks it's funny!"

"_Private?" _Jeanie, the matchmaker, scoffed. "What sort of a name is _Private?"_

Vanessa was smiling very proudly indeed as she held back Sarah, who was fighting her mother's embrace to go punch the lights out of Jeanie.

"_Don't you DARE say anything bad about him!"_ Sarah screamed. "He is kinder, sweeter, smarter, and definitely BETTER than any of you-" Vanessa held Sarah's beak closed,"- will ever hope to be!"

She finally calmed down a little bit, enough for Vanessa to know it was safe to let Sarah go without fearing for someone's bodily welfare.

"And for the record," Sarah finished, "his name is Private because that's his rank in the army - First Class Private."

With that, she turned, grabbed her notebook and pencils, and went to her old spot under a fake cave. She quickly registered how lucky she was it was still her, given the recent remodel, and that it was an even better spot now, seeing as it would protect her notebook from the 'snow' falling from overhead. It melted just as fast as real snow - the top of Sarah's head felt like she'd dipped it in the pool, and she could only imagine what it would have done to her paper.

Miranda gave a stern, furious glare in Vanessa's direction. "Why didn't you do anything?"

"Hey, I saved Jeanie, didn't I?" Vanessa said. She shrugged, holding back a laugh. "Kids will be kids."

* * *

(1) It didn't take long to figure out who was bad enough to have the punishment of being the namesake of an evil, old penguin - our school's worst gossip and bully, Miranda. I hate that girl. Plus - all the names are of people I don't like (except Mark and Max. They're pretty nice): my hated aunt, Jeanie; my almost-as-gossipy frienemy BreAnn; actually, I kinda like my uncle Jay, he just doesn't make good choices; and I forgot who I named Ben after. Whatever.

Not quite as sad as last time, but not as happy as before, either. I've been wanting to write for the elders for a while now, to see how bad I could make them. I hope it was bad enough!

Review!


	10. Chapter 10

Over the next month, Alice couldn't help but notice a change in her penguins' behavior, especially in the littlest one, the one that usually made the cover of the brochure. All of them, but especially he seemed sadder, less active, and generally less 'cute and cuddly' than before. Not only did this odd behavior be unappealing to visitors once the zoo was reopened soon… but the other thing was that (not that she would admit it), she hated to see the poor guys this way. They'd always been so happy, so playful… Alice knew that they were probably getting into trouble when they were happiest, but she also knew _she _would be the one in trouble if the penguins - a.k.a. Central Park Zoo's most popular exhibit since Alex the Lion - didn't lighten up before the zoo reopened for the spring.

So, as usual, it was up to Alice to make the zoo right again.

When she returned to her apartment that night, she opened up her laptop, went online, and opened up a few websites zookeepers around the world used to keep in touch. It was faster than mailing letters from their zoos, and it was a good way to get to know a specific keeper before transferring an animal somewhere.

Alice took a sip of her hot tea and thought back. When did the penguins start acting this way?

Easy. About a month ago, about the time that those two females from Boston were sent back… females. Duh - her penguins must have like having a lady around. In fact… the more she considered it… if she could get one of her boys to mate and produce a chick, visitors would flock to the zoo like flies to honey. To Alice, that could only mean one thing: BONUS CHECK!

So she put an ad on one of the websites' special pages for requesting animals:

**CENTRAL PARK ZOO - NYC, NY. REQUESTING FEMALE PENGUIN - PREFERABLY OF THE CLASSIFIED (1) SPECIES - AT LOW PRICE.**

She glanced over her ad. She'd asked for a low price after remembering the sorry state of the zoo's budget at the moment (money for animal's food/upkeep + no visitor = no profits.) The ad seemed good to her, and clicked SEND. The little window closed, and within the second, her ad was at the top of the requests page.

She repeated this short process for a few days - the request page filled up fast this time of year and she knew people wouldn't scroll down enough to see her first ad. Alice received her first response three days later:

**RE: CENTRAL PARK ZOO, NYC, NY - GREAT PLAINS ZOO, SIOUX FALLS, SD: HAVE CLASSIFIED FEMALE IN PRIME CONDITION. VERY IDEAL FOR BREEDING - YOURS FOR $50K PLUS SHIPPING.**

Alice nearly dropped her laptop. Fifty thousand dollars for _one penguin?_ No matter how ideal she was for breeding, there was no way her zoo could afford that and still feed the animals. She typed up a quick 'thanks-but-no-thanks' and sent in another ad.

The next response was from Austin, Texas. She was an immediate reject - she wasn't a Classified, which wouldn't have been a problem, but this… female… the eyebrows growing out of that _thing _would have scared away not only her boys but the visitors as well!

Finally, a week and a half after her first ad, Alice finally thought she made a real discovery:

**RE: CENTRAL PARK ZOO, NYC, NY - HENRY DOORLY ZOO, OMAHA, NE. HAVE CLASSIFIED FEMALE, WITH CONDITION. WILL SELL FOR CHEAP - EMAIL FOR MORE INFO.**

Alice emailed the Henry Doorly keeper and soon discovered what 'with condition' meant - the female was blind from hatching. She wasn't exactly a knock-out, either… but at least she didn't have heinous eyebrows sprouting like weeds, and still looked lovable, in a way. The disability would be easy enough to take care of, the exhibit wasn't exactly a maze, she'd learn soon enough how to get around. Plus, the price was great - only three thousand dollars, including shipping!

Alice knew she wouldn't get another offer like this in time for opening. She quickly sent another email saying she'd take the female, and within the week, the girl was on her way.

Alice felt… kind of proud of herself. Maybe she should do stuff like this more often… nah. Too much work.

The female arrived, and the boys took to her instantly. It was almost as if they didn't even care that she couldn't see…

The zoo reopened the day after the female arrived, with all the penguins (hopefully) in lighter spirits. Still, Alice decided to keep a closer watch over them than before, to see if her work would be fruitful at all.

…

Spring was, and always would be, Private's favorite time of year: all the birds came back and sang their happy songs; leaves grew back on the trees; the whole world in general seemed brighter, more hopeful. How fitting the season was for Private and the team right now - spring fever was taking its toll on the whole team, plus their new housemate and Kowalski's old friend ( and now mate), Katrina, who'd surprised them with her arrival a month or so earlier.

This year's springtime meant more than just a change of temperature to Private - Skipper had said that the team, in the spring, would set out for Boston to see Sarah! Private couldn't wait to see his love again… but unfortunately, he was forced to wait. Spring had sprung almost two weeks ago, but Skipper hadn't so much as mentioned any plans to go to Boston. Private was getting impatient, so he garnered up all his courage and finally asked Skipper outright when they would start the trip.

Skipper didn't answer at first. Since they were in the HQ, where Katrina, Kowalski, and Rico could hear, Skipper made a motion and Private followed him up top.

"So?" Private asked excitedly.

Skipper couldn't look Private quite in the eye. "Private… I don't think we can go to Boston. Not now, at least."

Silence.

Private said incredulously, "Why… why not?"

"We can't just leave Katrina here all by herself - the HQ's too lonely and she doesn't know the zoo well enough yet - she could get hurt."

"Kowalski can stay with her!" Private said quite desperately.

"We need Kowalski to read the map." Skipper said in a calm voice.

"What about Marlene, they're friends-"

"We could be gone for up to a week, Private. Marlene can't handle our security defenses, only we know how they work."

"Rico?" Private squeaked, already knowing where this was going.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Half of Rico's communication is gestures and expressions. I'm sure Katrina would_ love _figuring that out."

Private yelled, "I promised Sarah I'd visit her as soon as possible - she's expecting me to come! Skippah, I need to see her again!"

"You were doing just fine before she came along, you'll be fine a while longer." Skipper retorted sharply.

"I can't just leave her when she needs me most! _I'm not you, Skippah!"_

The words were out before Private even had time to think about it. Private gasped at himself, and slapped his flippers over his beak, wishing he could take the words out of the air and back in his mind.

But he couldn't. Skipper's expression hardened, and his eyes focused on Private's face in a steely, cold glare.

Quietly, angrily, Skipper said, "With any other commander, you would be marked up for insubordination _today. _Demoted… dishonored…"

"I'm so sorry, Skippah, I didn't mean-"

"But given the circumstances, I'll let it slide - but this will be going into the captain's log."

"Yes, sir." Private said in a defeated voice. Private walked past Skipper to go back into the HQ as Skipper added, "Mention one word of this to anyone else and I may rethink my decision against marking you up."

"Yes, sir." Private repeated.

Skipper's anger abated a little bit at the sight of Private's face - expressionless and numb.

"And Private?"

The saddened soldier looked up at his captain. "Yes?"

"I really am sorry… I considered every possibility you did, but… I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Skipper." Private mumbled, then closed the fishbowl behind him.

Skipper was absolutely certain that was the first time Private had ever lied to him.

…

After a few weeks of observation, Alice noticed something that made her angry: after all that extra work, the littlest guy, the one she'd been most worried about, wasn't any happier with the girl here than without! Actually, if anyone was happier, it was the tallest one. He seemed to be head over heels for her - always by her side, holding her flipper and guiding her away from the edges of the concrete floe… that was definitely going in her report this month. Not that her bosses would believe her - they never did when it came to her penguins. Five weeks after her arrival, Alice saw that she started paying attention specifically and only to the tall guy, and he never left her side… Alice figured they must have mated.

In that moment, something in Alice's mind finally clicked. Mated… female… penguin… Boston… of course! That's why the little guy was still so sad - he didn't want any girl, he wanted _his _girl! Alice also realized she'd inadvertently broken the unwritten rule of the zookeeper: never separate mates - mainly because some animals were known to actually die from 'heartbreak', knowing their better half wasn't with them. Taking a look and the poor little guy, Alice couldn't help but wonder if that was the way her little penguin was headed now…!

Without even taking the time to make a sarcastic remark to herself about how much she was really starting to care about the penguins, she went to her office in the zoo and called up the Boston zookeeper.

"Hey, is this Judd? Yeah, I'm Alice McAllister from Central Park in New York… you know those penguins you sent over while you were remodeling… yeah, I think it's the one with the thing about the notebook - yeah, we need her back."

* * *

(1) For the record, I did not think up the name for our penguins' species. That honor goes to GrandOldPenguin. It is mentioned in a few of his stories, and is used with his permission because it's an awesome idea for a name for Penguins' species - the Classified Penguin. (Thanks again!)

I actually really like Alice - she seems so uptight in the series, but we don't see enough of her to really make a judgement on her character. I personally think she really does care about the well-being of her animals, but doesn't like to show it - too much New Yorker in her to be that way. I really noticed how cool she was at the end of the new episode "The Big Squeeze", when Savio the snake jumped out at her, fangs bared and ready to kill, and she just said, "This ain't New Jersey, tough guy!" and slammed the door in his face. If that isn't as B.A., I don't know what is.

Review!


	11. Chapter 11

Yeah... I was cleaning out my computer's document files, and I figured, since I had this chapter all nice and typed out, I might as well put it up and finish the darn story. ONCE AGAIN, it's quite long, but it IS the final chapter. Of this story. Not the series.

Enjoy!

* * *

Vanessa, once again, was worried sick over Sarah. She seemed more content, since she'd told off the elders… but she had gone back into her pattern of drawing 24/7 and not speaking for days. It was even worse now - Sarah didn't even have the initiative to go re-dye her feathers and, worse, began refusing food. Vanessa took a look at Sarah's notebook while she was asleep, to see what was going through her mind. Apparently Sarah had lost interest in abstract art… there were 3 new drawings and one in the works, perfect replicas of: Skipper, looking cocky as ever with his flippers on his hips and looking off at some unseen accomplishment; Kowalski, glancing upward with his flipper under his beak, probably contemplating Einstein's theory of relativity or something; Rico, looking happy with his flippers up in one of his odd poses, proudly showing off his scarred face; and the one in the works was, obviously Private. There were actually three pages, the first two unfinished, smudged all over with some sort of water (Vanessa hoped it was the snow dripping through the plastic… oh, who was she kidding?) and the third still quite dry, but the lines were shaky - you could tell how hard Sarah was trying to hold it back so she'd have something to remember him by.

Vanessa was seriously starting to fear for what Sarah was doing for herself. She refused food two days straight, until Vanessa took her notebook away and forced her to swallow a few fish before giving it back. There was no question as to why Sarah was acting this way - it had been well over Skipper's timeline of two months until he, Private, and the rest of the team would be able to break out to Boston… Sarah was doubting where he would come at all. Vanessa understood this feeling all too well - she remembered, back before Sarah was hatched, waiting that year and a half for Skipper to come home and then when he didn't… Sarah was thinking the same things she had thought: Where is he? He wouldn't break a promise, and he swore he'd come back to me… maybe he's hurt, or worse… maybe he doesn't even care about me anymore…

Fearful of what Sarah might do to herself - Sarah didn't have an egg to keep her from doing something insane, as Vanessa had - Vanessa took to sitting beside Sarah as she drew and kept silent, and never left her side. It's a good thing, too - if she hadn't done so, she might not have been able to say good-bye.

…

May 3rd. The penguins of Boston heard the human's door to the exhibit open, and there was Judd, the zookeeper, holding a big wooden box - empty, from the looks of it. Everyone immediately knew what was happening - someone was getting transferred. Families, friends and of course, the council all clumped together, ready to retaliate if one of their own was to be taken.

Judd looked around. "Now, then… where is she?" Almost by habit, he looked into Sarah and Vanessa's plastic cave, then smiled. "Of course. As always."

Vanessa gasped. Her baby was NOT going to be taken from her - not in the state she was now, she'd kill herself! Vanessa pushed Sarah into the deepest corner and stepped in front of her daughter protectively. Sarah was scared, too. For all she knew, everything she loved, save her own mother, had been lost - now she would lose her, too?

"Mom, I don't want to go-" she whispered fearfully, losing all control.

"You won't." Vanessa said simply.

Judd had crossed the room and was at the mouth of the cave now.

"Hey there, girls." he said cheerfully, and reached inside. Vanessa caught one of his fingers and bit down as hard as she could. Judd jerked his hand away.

"_Ouch!" _He hissed, then looked at the girls exasperatedly. "Oh, come on, don't do this - don't you want to see your boyfriend again?"

Vanessa and Sarah froze.

Judd laughed. "That got your attention, huh?" he said, smirking. "We got a call from Central Park - sounds like somebody misses you, and wants you back… eh, sweetie?"

Sarah smiled - the first time in well over two months. "Mom - he's going to take us back!" she said excitedly. Vanessa smiled back and they both nearly ran out of the cave.

"Oh, oh oh." Judd said. "Just the smaller one - that's all Miss Alice said."

Vanessa's heart dropped, as did Sarah's. They looked at each other. Vanessa could see it in her daughter's eyes - Sarah wanted to go… Sarah needed to go. And this might be her only chance.

"Well… chick's gotta leave the nest at some point, right?" Vanessa said thickly. Sarah's eyes filled with tears, and she gave her mother a loving hug.

"I love you, Mom. Thanks for not giving up on me." Sarah whispered.

"I love you too, honey. I always will." Vanessa replied, rubbing Sarah's back. She suddenly remembered something. "Oh!" She pulled away and ran back into the cave, then came back out with Sarah's notebook and pencils. Sarah to them, looked at her mother, and had an idea. Turning away from Judd so he wouldn't see, She quickly opened the notebook and tore out the pictures of Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico.

"I'll try to send you one of me and Private, somehow." Sarah said, giving the pictures to Vanessa.

They shared one last hug, and Sarah turned back to Judd. He eyed the notebook, but Sarah gave him the death-glare and he shook his head, amused.

"I don't know what it is with you and that thing…" he said. "Well, it's not like you're hurting yourself or anything, so I guess you can take it with you." Sarah smiled and went with him to the wooden box obediently. Just before she stepped inside, she threw her stuff in and whipped around, determined to make her mark before she left for good. She looked to the council, to the boy who'd rejected her years ago, and to everyone else who hated her for no reason. She yelled at the top of her lungs:

"SCREW YOU ALL! I'm gonna go find my LOVER!"

She laughed maniacally and jumped into the box.

Vanessa laughed, and wiped a tear from her eyes.

"That's my girl."

…

Three days after the incident, the five penguins discovered yet another wooden box in their habitat.

"_Another one?"_ Skipper said both incredulously and angrily. "First Private, then Kowalski… who's going to get a soul mate now? Rico?"

"Doll!" Rico pointed out helpfully.

"What's going on?" Katrina whispered to Kowalski.

"We've gotten another new transfer - considering you only came about a month and a half ago, it is highly unusual for us to have another newcomer."

"Aren't we going to open it?" Private said.

At the sound of his voice, the box shook as though something was slamming itself against the wooden walls.

"Oh dear!" Private exclaimed, jumping away. The box thudded again, and then again. Kowalski stepped in front of Katrina to protect her if necessary.

"What's in there?" Private asked, looking over at Kowalski, who shrugged.

The box shook again, this time managing to free one of the corners. There was a pause, and the sound of someone sighing exasperatedly.

"Are you guys seriously going to make me do all the work?" a familiarly-sarcastic female voice said from within. Private knew that voice as well as his own.

"_Sarah?"_

"Yes, it's me, now couldja get me out of here already?" she yelled, impatiently and joyously. Private didn't need telling twice. He ran up, grabbed the loose corner and yanked as hard as he could, pulling away the wood cleanly. Before he had time to look inside, a sudden impact hit him square in the chest, nearly knocking the wind out of him. He looked down, and embracing him as tightly as a snake was the same girl who'd been haunting his dreams for two and a half months (and beyond) - Sarah herself. Private slowly stroked her back once, to make sure she was real, then returned the hug just as fervently. Thickly, he whispered, "Sarah… oh my goodness, I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Yeah… about that." Sarah said seriously. She pulled away and looked Private in the eye. "If you missed me so much, why didn't you come? You _promised-"_

"I know, Sarah." Private said contritely, holding her face in his flipper. "I know, but… something came up…"

"What?" Sarah demanded, pushing away his flipper but not letting go of it. "What could be so important that-"

"Me." Katrina said guiltily, stepping out from behind Kowalski. She added in a whisper to where she knew Skipper was standing from hearing his voice, "I heard your conversation with Private. The door wasn't shut right, and I have more sensitive senses of hearing than most penguins."

Skipper blushed a little, feeling guilty.

Sarah turned to look at this unfamiliar girl. "Who are you?"

"My name's Katrina - I was transferred here about a month ago. I'm blind, and Skipper didn't think it was safe to leave me here by myself. I never wanted to cause anyone pain - I'm so sorry." she said sincerely.

"I tried to convince Skipper otherwise-" Private started, but Skipper interrupted by saying, "Very nearly got himself marked up for insubordination."

Sarah's eyes flashed to Private, then back to Skipper. She'd learned how big of a deal that sort of thing was when she'd lived here before. "Really?"

"Yep." Skipper said. "For insulting his commanding officer."

Sarah's jaw dropped. "Seriously?" she said, not quite believing him.

"It wasn't really an insult," Private said, "so much as… saying some things that definitely should have been left unsaid." Sarah and Skipper both agreed that was a better term. Sarah and Katrina were more properly introduced, and Sarah was completely flabbergasted how Katrina go on without sight - considering Sarah was an artist, and all.

While this was going on, Skipper silently slid off to the side, and peered into the wooden crate Sarah had come in. When he'd heard Sarah's voice, he couldn't help but wonder if Vanessa was with her… but the only thing that was still in the crate was Sarah's notebook and pencils. Even though he was more than a little disappointed, Skipper figure it was better this way. Easier to focus on being a good leader.

…

Later that night, while everyone else was in the HQ enjoying evening free time (or normalcy, in Katrina's case), Private and Sarah stayed up top, to begin making up for lost time. Just like the night of Julien's party, Sarah was curled up against Private, who held her in his arms gently, and they watched the sky, seeing if their star was out again.

"So…" Private started.

"Yeah?" Sarah said.

"Do you forgive me for breaking my promise?" He was seriously afraid she wouldn't forgive him.

Sarah pretended to think about it. "Well… let's see… I might have forgiven you, but…"

"But?" Private squeaked.

"Since I got back, you haven't kissed me or anything." Sarah said suavely.

Private smiled. "I can fix that."

And so he did.

* * *

Aww!

A couple of mentions here:

Thanks to LoveSkipper - his reviews always make me smile. Thanks!

Thanks to GrandOldPenguin for letting me use his idea about the species name last chapter - Thanks!

Thanks to my sister, who you'll hear about in the Flashback Series: The Final Chapter!

And thanks to all my readers - especially those that reviewed. Every time I see a new review, I turn all fluffy and warm inside. Thanks!

Here's repitition for ya - Review!


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